Hobie Cat Company Announces Acquisition of Hobie Cat Europe

Oceanside, California, (DATE) - Effective September 1, 2012, the Hobie Cat Company, based out of Oceanside, California acquired Hobie Cat’s business in Europe. The agreement will give the sailboat and kayak company worldwide trademark rights and make the operation Hobie Cat’s business in Europe directly under the control of Hobie Cat Company. Together with Hobie Cat Australasia, a subsidiary for the past twelve years, the joining of international forces will unify the brand image, accelerate market expansion, focus the product offerings and enhance Hobie’s strong position in the global sailing, kayaking and fishing markets. The announcement was made by Hobie Cat Company president, Doug Skidmore.

Terms of the purchase are not disclosed, but the agreement is enthusiastically sanctioned by both entities. "It has been a dream of ours for many years to reunite Hobie Cat brands worldwide. This acquisition creates tremendous opportunities to build on the successes that Hobie Cat Company, Hobie Cat Europe and Hobie Cat Australasia have all achieved individually in their own markets,” stated Doug. “It will take a lot of hard work and late nights to coordinate efforts, but the benefit to the Hobie Cat brand, our company and our loyal customers will be significant and long lasting.”

In 1968, Hobie icon and founder Hobie Alter started the Hobie Cat Company. In December 1975, the Coleman Company purchased the worldwide company. In January 1989, the company was divided between U.S. based Hobie Cat Company and Hobie Cat Europe and sold to two separate private ownership groups. In 1995, Hobie Cat Company was sold to the current private ownership group. The two companies have operated independently for the past 23 years, cooperating on many projects and events but remaining separate entities. Still, the situation has been complicated with both companies sharing worldwide distribution rights. The new agreement is designed to unify these rights under one roof and unify the Hobie Cat companies worldwide.

Besides the economic advantages of reuniting the Hobie family, the acquisition will leverage the momentum that Hobie currently enjoys in the marketplace. The research and development team can now think globally when designing new products and entering new market segments. The sales and marketing departments of each division will be able to share ideas on how best to service their dealer networks and bring a consistent message to Hobie consumers worldwide. Hobie Kayaks Europe (the distributor of Hobie Mirage Kayaks in Europe for Hobie Cat Company) will now have a local base of support that will enable coordinated supply, marketing and promotional efforts in the region. This coordination will help further expand the sales of the popular pedal driven kayaks throughout Europe. Existing organizations like the International Hobie Class Association (sailboat racing) will now have a unified base of support to help organize future events. New undertakings like the Hobie Island Club and the Second Annual Hobie Kayak Fishing World Championship will be encouraged to grow globally. The talent synergies in the now international organization will position the brand for further growth while respecting the unique needs of each individual country.

Since 1950, Hobie has been in the business of shaping a unique lifestyle based around fun, water, and quality products. From their headquarters in Oceanside, California, Hobie Cat Company manufactures, distributes, and markets an impressive collection of eco-sensitive watercraft worldwide. These include an ever-expanding line of recreation and racing sailboats, pedal-driven and paddle sit-on-top recreation and fishing kayaks, inflatable kayaks, fishing boats, plus a complementary array of parts and accessories.

That sounds like a great move. Congrats Hobie. It will be nice to see a coordinated world-wide effort.

Matt

That sounds promising in that the cat racing world could use a bit of a jolt That leaves Performance, AHPC and Hobie (unified) as the major builders/marketing wizards .... Perhaps they could drive a forward looking agenda working together??

God knows... that if we can't make all of the AC action pay off for our niche of the sport now.... The future will be dim.

Congrats to Hobie.
Nacra did the opposite(sold to Eu.) and it certainly didn't help Americans.

I had heard HCE was for sale. Good move on Hobie US's side. Should make everything better for sailors here.

Wow. Just, wow.

Mike

Does this mean that the wildcat will come in plastic now? :-P

lol i hope not

Maybe 'Hobie World' will join the light weight - high performance builders in a couple years. That would put some pressure on the other name brands for sure since the Hobie marketing infrastructure appears long lasting and well loved by a global tribe of dedicated followers.

May this mean the best is yet to come for catamaran sailors in the USA.

cool, thanks for the update

Plastic boats for everyone!

Congratulations on undoing the Coleman years. That era was so messed up, the Ice Chest giveaways were from Igloo.

Join them in what? We already are deep into it with products like the Wild Cat and Hobie 16 I'd think.

This unification of the company world-wide will allow us to maintain a range of high performance to recreational products that we have been successful with. Expect to see F18, Hobie 16 and a full range of our popular molded products continue. Do not expect to see a push further into High performance, technical and expensive cats. Somehow "catandahalf" thinks high performance is the key to success? The business performance of all of the other cat companies does not support that logic at all. If the market place changes... we would go there.

+1 and totally understandable from a marketing standpoint. Beachcat racers are indeed a small minority in the big picture.

Agree, Hobie Cat would have been long gone, had they not moved into the kayaks and rotomold boats.

Don't care. They should still build an F16.

Hell, lop a few inches off the FXone, skinny it up a bit, and put a better rig on it they'd have it. But not a real good two up boat.

Matt

A couple of questions I heard last night.

Have they sorted out how this will impact the comp-tip?

What about bringing the smaller European to the US, like the Dragon?

CompTip for North America is unchanged. Does not change elsewhere in the World.

In the coming year we will be going through the extensive line of cats offered by Hobie Cat Europe and selecting boats to continue with. We would have to have a good fit and differential from other models to bring additional models here.

Major surgery on product line.

My interpretation of this- Reduce product line in Europe, no change to US product line. So probably very little impact on US. Maybe a little easier to get replacement Tiger/Wildcat/FX-1 parts and H16 pylon sleeves. That's really all I'd expect. I see this as likely bringing HCE more in line with what Hobie USA is doing, not vice-versa.

sm